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it is profit for auto makers, not consumer sentiment. larger vehicles have larger price tags and larger profit margins. Remember that the US auto companies spe

it is profit for auto makers, not consumer sentiment. larger vehicles have larger price tags and larger profit margins. Remember that the US auto companies spent billions of dollars in marketing and lying to people that they "need" vehicles the size of tanks.

murderfs 1y ago
People want vehicles the size of tanks. Auto companies are spending billions of dollars to get people to buy their respective tank-sized vehicles, not to turn people onto the segment in general.
- mc32 1y ago
  People with families have been fooling around with larger vehicles for some time: station wagons -> minivans -> SUVs -> CUVs. It's not new.
  - riffraff 1y ago
    Most of the time people drive SUVs alone. I go for walks in the morning and there's a road bottleneck and it's hilarious and sad to see the cars queueing up on both sides, huge ones, with a single person in them, every morning. I do own a station wagon, and it's shorter than most SUVs, and I use it for long trips, but let's be realistic, that's not what most drives are.
    - potato3732842 1y ago
      >Most of the time people drive SUVs alone. Most of the time people drive sedans alone. If people bought based purely on passenger need 99% of vehicles on the road should be 2-seat coupes, pickups and vans.
      - riffraff 1y ago
        I agree, I was just answering to the "people with families drive large cars" in general, and wrote SUV accidentally.
- PaulHoule 1y ago
  I've heard people say "people want vehicles the size of tanks" in discussions like this but I've never heard "I want a vehicle the size of a tank" although that person exists. It seems like a different world but before the pandemic if you wanted to buy a compact car you would go to the dealer and find out they don't have any new ones, you'll have to settle for used, they say factory washed out in a flood. Well they have 100 SUVs made in the same factory lined up that nobody wants to buy that are $7000 off.
  - vostok 1y ago
    As someone who lives in a city, I'm not sure what I'd do with a car that is smaller than a tank. If it's a small car then it's probably for local trips and super inconvenient to park / re-park / etc. I want a big car to comfortably fit my family, our outdoor toys, and maybe even tow something. Even if I lived outside a city, what do I gain by driving a smaller car? Going from 35 to 55 mpg? Parking is plentiful and equally convenient for big cars these days.
    - hnthroay22312 1y ago
      most people want all those things but reality they tow something maybe once a year, that's marketing working.
      - Scoundreller 1y ago
        Pareto principle is strong when it comes to towing.
    - kanbara 1y ago
      meanwhile the entire world from japan to the uk to brazil to south africa are fine to go grocery shopping and take their family out in their normal sized car. in the city. cities are better with fewer cars and better public transit. and you dont need a tank. i didnt know your viewpoint even existed.
  - murderfs 1y ago
    From a survey of Canadians in 2022 [1]: "We find that SUV drivers view their vehicles as functionally superior to smaller cars in terms of safety, space for lifestyle, handling, and fun. Symbolically, SUVs are seen as a “status symbol” that can communicate a number of images, such as being “successful”. SUV drivers are more likely to see these vehicles as common and “approved” in their social networks, and tend to downplay any negative societal impacts such as increased GHG emissions. Across respondents intending to buy an SUV, willingness-to-downsize to a smaller vehicle was highest under financial incentives (for buying or using a car) or disincentives (for buying or using an SUV)." I personally don't understand how you could consider an SUV better for handling or fun, but denying people's views doesn't make them not hold them. 1: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629622002791 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S22146...
- kelnos 1y ago
  Do they actually want that, or have people been influenced by incessant marketing? Car manufacturers have strong tax reasons to prefer building SUVs over sedans, and their marketing reflects that.
- user____name 1y ago
  I think people want tanks because all their neighbours are driving tanks.
lotsofpulp 1y ago
No one forced people to buy the larger vehicles when they came on the market. People choose to buy vehicles that let them sit higher and take up more space, when smaller alternatives are readily available.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
harimau777 1y ago
Isn't some of it an arms race? I partially have a large vehicle because it's unsafe to be in a small vehicle if I get in a crash with a truck or EV.
- PaulHoule 1y ago
  They make people think that. The fact is that modern cars have astonishingly effective safety features that are likely to get you alive out of most crashes regardless of the size of your vehicle. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety publishes data that shows that larger vehicles are safer but it is not like you die in the smaller car most of the time, but rather you are more likely to break your ankle or something. If your vehicle goes under the tractor pulled by a semi (any size) or if it flips over the guardrail because it's too big to be held by the guardrail you do die.
  - crooked-v 1y ago
    See also: the excellent safety ratings of the Miata, even though it's the smallest car you can get short of Smart or imported kei trucks.
    - harimau777 1y ago
      My understanding is that safety ratings are relative to the class of car. So if you have a small car with excellent ratings and a large car that doesn't mean they will have the same survivability if they crash into each other.
  - arethuza 1y ago
    If larger vehicles were safer then you'd expect the deaths per unit distance driven for the US to be good - when it's actually quite bad? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
- hnthroay22312 1y ago
  but larger vehicles also flip easier, so i'm not sure until we have some scientific paper about this.

murderfs 1y ago

People want vehicles the size of tanks. Auto companies are spending billions of dollars to get people to buy their respective tank-sized vehicles, not to turn people onto the segment in general.

mc32 1y ago
People with families have been fooling around with larger vehicles for some time: station wagons -> minivans -> SUVs -> CUVs. It's not new.
- riffraff 1y ago
  Most of the time people drive SUVs alone. I go for walks in the morning and there's a road bottleneck and it's hilarious and sad to see the cars queueing up on both sides, huge ones, with a single person in them, every morning. I do own a station wagon, and it's shorter than most SUVs, and I use it for long trips, but let's be realistic, that's not what most drives are.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    >Most of the time people drive SUVs alone. Most of the time people drive sedans alone. If people bought based purely on passenger need 99% of vehicles on the road should be 2-seat coupes, pickups and vans.
    - riffraff 1y ago
      I agree, I was just answering to the "people with families drive large cars" in general, and wrote SUV accidentally.
PaulHoule 1y ago
I've heard people say "people want vehicles the size of tanks" in discussions like this but I've never heard "I want a vehicle the size of a tank" although that person exists. It seems like a different world but before the pandemic if you wanted to buy a compact car you would go to the dealer and find out they don't have any new ones, you'll have to settle for used, they say factory washed out in a flood. Well they have 100 SUVs made in the same factory lined up that nobody wants to buy that are $7000 off.
- vostok 1y ago
  As someone who lives in a city, I'm not sure what I'd do with a car that is smaller than a tank. If it's a small car then it's probably for local trips and super inconvenient to park / re-park / etc. I want a big car to comfortably fit my family, our outdoor toys, and maybe even tow something. Even if I lived outside a city, what do I gain by driving a smaller car? Going from 35 to 55 mpg? Parking is plentiful and equally convenient for big cars these days.
  - hnthroay22312 1y ago
    most people want all those things but reality they tow something maybe once a year, that's marketing working.
    - Scoundreller 1y ago
      Pareto principle is strong when it comes to towing.
  - kanbara 1y ago
    meanwhile the entire world from japan to the uk to brazil to south africa are fine to go grocery shopping and take their family out in their normal sized car. in the city. cities are better with fewer cars and better public transit. and you dont need a tank. i didnt know your viewpoint even existed.
- murderfs 1y ago
  From a survey of Canadians in 2022 [1]: "We find that SUV drivers view their vehicles as functionally superior to smaller cars in terms of safety, space for lifestyle, handling, and fun. Symbolically, SUVs are seen as a “status symbol” that can communicate a number of images, such as being “successful”. SUV drivers are more likely to see these vehicles as common and “approved” in their social networks, and tend to downplay any negative societal impacts such as increased GHG emissions. Across respondents intending to buy an SUV, willingness-to-downsize to a smaller vehicle was highest under financial incentives (for buying or using a car) or disincentives (for buying or using an SUV)." I personally don't understand how you could consider an SUV better for handling or fun, but denying people's views doesn't make them not hold them. 1: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629622002791 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S22146...
kelnos 1y ago
Do they actually want that, or have people been influenced by incessant marketing? Car manufacturers have strong tax reasons to prefer building SUVs over sedans, and their marketing reflects that.
user____name 1y ago
I think people want tanks because all their neighbours are driving tanks.

lotsofpulp 1y ago

No one forced people to buy the larger vehicles when they came on the market. People choose to buy vehicles that let them sit higher and take up more space, when smaller alternatives are readily available.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

harimau777 1y ago

Isn't some of it an arms race? I partially have a large vehicle because it's unsafe to be in a small vehicle if I get in a crash with a truck or EV.

PaulHoule 1y ago
They make people think that. The fact is that modern cars have astonishingly effective safety features that are likely to get you alive out of most crashes regardless of the size of your vehicle. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety publishes data that shows that larger vehicles are safer but it is not like you die in the smaller car most of the time, but rather you are more likely to break your ankle or something. If your vehicle goes under the tractor pulled by a semi (any size) or if it flips over the guardrail because it's too big to be held by the guardrail you do die.
- crooked-v 1y ago
  See also: the excellent safety ratings of the Miata, even though it's the smallest car you can get short of Smart or imported kei trucks.
  - harimau777 1y ago
    My understanding is that safety ratings are relative to the class of car. So if you have a small car with excellent ratings and a large car that doesn't mean they will have the same survivability if they crash into each other.
- arethuza 1y ago
  If larger vehicles were safer then you'd expect the deaths per unit distance driven for the US to be good - when it's actually quite bad? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
hnthroay22312 1y ago
but larger vehicles also flip easier, so i'm not sure until we have some scientific paper about this.